Thursday, May 3, 2012
Listening 13- Over the Rainbow/ Art Tatum
As a Kansas boy, born and raised, I hold this song close to my heart. And only because some movie told me to...funny ain't it. Word on the street is they gave this to Art with minimal prep time to jazz it up, so this is pretty raw Tatum. Let's listen...
This is Art Tatum recorded in 1939. We'll analyze this one. It starts out with some reflective ding dongs. Then it goes into the song we know and love with Art's flair and runs riddled throughout the piece. The piece doesn't have too discernible of a meter. He speeds up here, slows down there. Really what ever he's feeling. Its 16 bar blues. The format is AABA then he solos. His solos are like his playing of the AABA, going slow then fast. Its hard to tell what is his solo and what is the next AABA because he alludes to the piece in his solo and he solos throughout the AABA. Then he ends it with AABA but on the last A, he races through it and finishes it real fast. Like he was on a time limit and he was running long or something. Like I said this is an early version. If you want to hear a later version from the 50s, watch the one below.
This believe it or not, is even more all over the place. If you hadn't told me this was over the rainbow, I would not have guess it. But that's jazz for you. This has been Dan, and I am outta here....
Auto-tune Till We Die
Now for the thing sweeping the nation. It started decades ago, on very small scale things, like one note being out of tune. Now it is in every song produced and some songs solely rely on it as their musical talent. We've gone from singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong to robots. It can be quite that culture shock, I'm sure anyone from the 30's would be appalled at what we listen to but that's just a personal opinion. But nonetheless, it is pervasive and it is sound altering, so lets look into it.
Auto-tune is a computer program that can alter the pitch of the vocal or instrumental electrical recording. It will take what ever note it is given and take it to the nearest true semi-tone. For experience listeners, you can hear that an auto-tuned song sounds as if the singer or instrument is jumping from note to note rather than transitioning as is natural. This technology was originally meant to help with drilling for oil, but was discovered to have different abilities than just that. The first major commercial use of it was in Cher's Believe. Where she sounds cyberspacy. T-Pain is probably most famous for his use of Auto-Tune as that is all he does. I don't think I have heard an un-Auto-tuned song by him for half a decade. The song on the right is called Best Love Song and it is T-Pain featuring Chris Brown. I picked this because Chris Brown doesn't use (or only slightly uses) auto-tune where as T-Pain's voice is always auto-tuned. Listen to the runs that they do with their voices. You can tell T-Pain because his voice jumps from note to note with no continuity. It is just another example of musicians doing what it takes to stay ahead of the game, I guess.
Auto-tune is a computer program that can alter the pitch of the vocal or instrumental electrical recording. It will take what ever note it is given and take it to the nearest true semi-tone. For experience listeners, you can hear that an auto-tuned song sounds as if the singer or instrument is jumping from note to note rather than transitioning as is natural. This technology was originally meant to help with drilling for oil, but was discovered to have different abilities than just that. The first major commercial use of it was in Cher's Believe. Where she sounds cyberspacy. T-Pain is probably most famous for his use of Auto-Tune as that is all he does. I don't think I have heard an un-Auto-tuned song by him for half a decade. The song on the right is called Best Love Song and it is T-Pain featuring Chris Brown. I picked this because Chris Brown doesn't use (or only slightly uses) auto-tune where as T-Pain's voice is always auto-tuned. Listen to the runs that they do with their voices. You can tell T-Pain because his voice jumps from note to note with no continuity. It is just another example of musicians doing what it takes to stay ahead of the game, I guess.
Listening 12- Walkin and Swingin /Andy Kirk & His Twelve Clouds Of Joy
I have always loved swing music, so this song title caught my eye. Walkin and Swinging by Andy Kirk.
The song is written by Mary Lou Williams, an accomplished female jazz pianist. She has written and arranged for a lot of great band leaders. She wrote this for Andy Kirk while she played piano.
Its in 16 bar blues. The format is AABA. Then it goes to a trumpet and saxophone who are in perfect sync, so good it sounds like a new instrument, a trumpophone. Then it goes into Mary Lou's solo. Then it is the sax's turn to solo. Mary Lou then goes into a short bit and then does a call/echo with the rest of the band. Then it goes back into the AABA with some more flair on the top of it. Overall, it is AABATsPSPAABA. Its got the 16 bar blues as book ends with some fun stuff in between. A girl walked by my room and said this music made her wanna swing dance. Is that just pure coincidence that the song is called walkin and swingin and that is what she did? The world may never know.
Its in 16 bar blues. The format is AABA. Then it goes to a trumpet and saxophone who are in perfect sync, so good it sounds like a new instrument, a trumpophone. Then it goes into Mary Lou's solo. Then it is the sax's turn to solo. Mary Lou then goes into a short bit and then does a call/echo with the rest of the band. Then it goes back into the AABA with some more flair on the top of it. Overall, it is AABATsPSPAABA. Its got the 16 bar blues as book ends with some fun stuff in between. A girl walked by my room and said this music made her wanna swing dance. Is that just pure coincidence that the song is called walkin and swingin and that is what she did? The world may never know.
Dub Step Wobble
I decided to do my last two sound alterations on more modern alterations. Even if a trumpet plays purely into a microphone, the microphone is connected to a sound board and that sound board can mess around with the sound before sending it through to the speakers. We'll be looking at some things sound boards can do to your sounds.If you have ever seen a music recording studio, whether in real life or on tv, you'll have seen something that looks like the picture to the right. This is a sound board. As you can see, it has a bunch of different buttons and switches and sliders that are used to take multiple inputs (like different mics for different instruments) and make it into one wave, one sound. So not only does it combine the waves together, but you can also alter each wave individually or as a unit. You can put a filter on it so only higher frequencies pass through, or only lower frequencies. It can pick an choose certain notes to add or take away. It can amplify one quiet harmon muted trumpet while scaling down the loud proud trombonist. Some say this kind of power takes away from the musicians. It should be up to the musicians on how loud they play and what they want to do with the notes. I'm sure if this kind of tech was around during Monk's time, they would have filtered out those dissonant notes thinking they were mistakes. This leads to the question, can jazz persist if soundboards take over? Will jazz once again transform into something new, utilizing the sound board and it's capabilities? I have faith in the pervasive jazz musicians out there. Jazz is as american as bald eagles, and I'd be crazy to think that new technology would ever stop jazz.
A newer type of alteration is called Wobble. It is a low frequency oscillator, so it takes bass notes and makes them loud then soft then loud then soft, over and over, pretty quickly. Considering notes are just oscillating waves them selves, the idea is to oscillate an oscillating waveform. What you end up with is known as wobble. At 1: 50 on the following clip is a good example of what a wobbled note is.
Oh Sweet Harmon-y / Listening 11- All Blues by Miles Davis
Harmon mutes kill a lot of the sound though. Because it restricts air flow so much and doesn't allow air outside of it, the harmon mute can dampen the softest of sounds by 8dB and can bring down the loudest (fff at 30dB) down 21dB to 9dB. Thats a loss of 2/3rds of the sound. So playing as loud as possible with a harmon mute is like play piano or metso piano without a mute. This is why harmon muted players, like Miles Davis, play into microphones, because otherwise, a crowded room wouldn't be able to hear him. One of Miles Davis' better known pieces, All Blues, has him playing with a harmon mute. Lets watch.
I couldn't tell how many bar blues it was (maybe it was a combination of All Blues), because Miles never seemed to come in on down beats. But I could tell it was in 3/4 time. At first I thought that miles on the harmon and the first part without the harmon were unscripted cause they sounded so genuine and soulful, but then he played it again after Herbie's solo, and it blew me away. Not only did his solo have feeling, but he gave the whole song his soul. That's special.
Listening 10 - Linus and Lucy / Vince Guaraldi Trio
If you've been around longer than a decade, you know about Charlie Brown. A classic comic strip started up in the 50s that ran until 2000. It got made into many TV specials, like A Charlie Brown Christmas. In A Charlie Brown Christmas, they are putting on a play. While they are rehearsing for this play, the kids dance to a song. This song is called Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi.
I grew up watching this movie, and my dad had bought the sheet music for piano for the movie. Problem is, he couldn't read music. But he'd try his best and play this song by ear. He was very good. Once I was older and I knew both bass and treble clefts, I helped him get the rest of the songs down so now he can play the whole show. Suffice to say, sitting at the piano watching my dad feel what note was right was a neat experience for me.
This song starts out with a piano's left hand playing the base chords for the song for the intro for 4 bars. The drummer in the back is hitting ever other beat while using a cabassa shaker. There is then 2 repeated 10 bar phrases and then the shaker cuts out and and the piano does the iconic Charlie Brown hit chords for 6 bars. The first 20 bars are repeated. Then there is a scripted piano solo. Then back into the first 20 bars again. Then an unscripted piano solo.Then the first 20 bars again. From there it is kinda just a repeat of the intro 4 bars with some piano comping. The overall format is IAACAASAAUAAIII. It is a lot of AAs with other things in between. Just like in the show, this is the kind of song one could dance to, nothing too fancy, just something you could jazz out by yourself to.
I like this song a lot, I hope you do too.
Bottle of Crown and a Bag to Boot
Recently, I went to a Jazz concert in the K-State Union. One of the groups had a trumpeter. This trumpeter used a mute I had only heard of but never seen myself. It was the bag that Crown Royal comes in. He had placed it over his bell kinda like a bucket mute. Problem is, the bucket mute is a rigid space that sound can reverberate in. This Crown Bag was essentially just draped over the bell. I wondered why did he do that, and why a Crown Royal bag?
Turns out it is called a Velvet Mute. That makes sense because the Crown Royal bags are velvety. Velvet mutes decrease the sound by about 13 dB, but also give it the darker tone. The soft velvet material absorbs a lot of the energy in the sound, and also attenuating some higher frequencies, kind of of like sound proof walls. I found a really cool PDF that compares all the different kinds of mutes I've covered so far. http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/Forschung/pdf_dateien/1995e-MB-CAC-mutes.pdf
Its very comparative between different types of mutes. Disclaimer: it is in English but some of the graphs are in German. Things to note: ohne in German means without, so no mute. ppp represents the softest you can play, and fff represents the loudest you can play.
This brings me to my last question, why the Crown bag? Why not another velvety fabric. I asked a trumpet buddy of mine who had one why he went with the Crown bag. His answer? " It looks classy and it looks like I have just enjoyed a bottle." Good enough for me
Listening 9- What a Wonderful World/ Louis Armstrong
Speaking of voices, Louis Armstrong has a unique one. Its a classic raspy tone that gives the song, What a Wonderful World a older, more classic feel. Here's a live clip of him singing our favorite feel good tune.
In this piece, you have a clarinet and a trombone providing the melodic parts. The piano in the back keeps the chords while comping the singer. The set plays a straight beat as not to throw off the elderly singer ;). But in all seriousness, watching Louis sing this song shows you how he gets his iconic voice. He opens his mouth wide and contorts his face to get the notes he's looking for just right.
The song starts with a nice, pretty, short intro and then the singer jumps right in. He sings in 16 bar sections, an AABB format. He does that twice, with the BB sections being the same. He then goes to the bridge. The bridge is followed by another 16 bar phrase. There is a tag at the end repeating the BB section. Overall for the whole song the form is AABA with a short intro and a tag on the end.
The clarinet, trombone combo makes a very light and pretty background for the Louis, going well with the imagery he is singing about. It makes you feel good about yourself and your day. Quite a good pick me up.
The Voice
Its something you hear everyday, you don't even think about it. Everyone one has a fairly unique voice. Not only do some talk at a higher pitch than others, some talk lower, some sound raspy, and others sound light. There are almost an infinite amount of slight variances in pitch and timbre that many don't notice. So lets look at the extremes.
I would by no means say I have a high voice. But I can make mine high by two means, naturally and chemically. Naturally, I can go into what is known as falsetto. Falsetto vibrates a different part of your vocal cords than your normal (modal) voice would. It usually brings up the pitch an octave or sometimes even two if your good. This helps men hit hire notes if it isn't in their modal range. Problems with falsetto though, is that it is very limiting, both dynamically and tonally. It usually sounds more "breathy" and the tone lacks a certain "ringing" that modal voices have. The other way to alter your voice is chemically through a method we all know and love, inhaling Helium. The air we breathe regularly has oxygen in it, yes, but only 20% of it. 71% of air is heavy nitrogen. The other nine percent are less important. The weight of air though, molecularly, is over 6 times heavier than He2, helium molecules. When breathed in, it fills the upper part of your lungs and is ready to go through your vocal cords. If you speak normally, your vocal cords are trained to do the work for and vibrate heavier air. So when the helium passes through them, the same work is applied to lighter air, vibrating it faster, raising the pitch quite a bit.
On the other end of the spectrum, what if you wanna go lower. It is a lot tougher to falsely lower ones voice than it is to raise it. To get a lower note, you have to somehow vibrate the air slower. Some can compensate for this naturally, but others, like myself end up vibrating my whole throat to try and make that slow vibration. It ends up coming out very groggy and fake. Luckily, we can do it chemically as well. If we got a higher pitch with a molecule that was 6 times lighter than air, perchance we can get a lower pitch by using a compound that is 6 times heavier than air. And we're in luck, such a chemical does exist, and it is safe to inhale a little bit. Sulfar Hexaflouride is a compound that is about 6 times heavier than air. This means your vocal cords are working to vibrate heavier air, so it vibrates slower. The slower the vibrations, the lower the frequency, hence a lowered voice. Take it away Adam.
I would by no means say I have a high voice. But I can make mine high by two means, naturally and chemically. Naturally, I can go into what is known as falsetto. Falsetto vibrates a different part of your vocal cords than your normal (modal) voice would. It usually brings up the pitch an octave or sometimes even two if your good. This helps men hit hire notes if it isn't in their modal range. Problems with falsetto though, is that it is very limiting, both dynamically and tonally. It usually sounds more "breathy" and the tone lacks a certain "ringing" that modal voices have. The other way to alter your voice is chemically through a method we all know and love, inhaling Helium. The air we breathe regularly has oxygen in it, yes, but only 20% of it. 71% of air is heavy nitrogen. The other nine percent are less important. The weight of air though, molecularly, is over 6 times heavier than He2, helium molecules. When breathed in, it fills the upper part of your lungs and is ready to go through your vocal cords. If you speak normally, your vocal cords are trained to do the work for and vibrate heavier air. So when the helium passes through them, the same work is applied to lighter air, vibrating it faster, raising the pitch quite a bit.
On the other end of the spectrum, what if you wanna go lower. It is a lot tougher to falsely lower ones voice than it is to raise it. To get a lower note, you have to somehow vibrate the air slower. Some can compensate for this naturally, but others, like myself end up vibrating my whole throat to try and make that slow vibration. It ends up coming out very groggy and fake. Luckily, we can do it chemically as well. If we got a higher pitch with a molecule that was 6 times lighter than air, perchance we can get a lower pitch by using a compound that is 6 times heavier than air. And we're in luck, such a chemical does exist, and it is safe to inhale a little bit. Sulfar Hexaflouride is a compound that is about 6 times heavier than air. This means your vocal cords are working to vibrate heavier air, so it vibrates slower. The slower the vibrations, the lower the frequency, hence a lowered voice. Take it away Adam.
Listening 8 - Freedom at Midnight / David Benoit
Like I said earlier, my dad listened to a lot of jazz when I was a kid. I didn't like all of it, and sometimes I'd wish he would play more modern pop music. Every once in a while, however, I would here some jazz that I'd find myself humming later that day. Freedom at Midnight by David Benoit is one of those songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TADcnHVyWkk.
Its just a link this time because blogspot would only find the live versions of the song, which were usually less clear than this version.
It starts out with a piano intro with the drums comping. The intro is a foreshadowing of the refrain. The whole band comes in for the last note. Then the bass comes in, thwapping away at the strings. The piano moves into the first portion of his piece. Then they finally get to the refrain which is a longer version of the intro. Next to play is the saxophone. He essentially plays what the piano played during the first portion. Then it plays the refrain again. Next it goes into a section I'm calling the bridge, it has a very different feel to it. You can call this the B section if you wish. After the bridge, there is a lengthy saxophone solo. After the sax solo, they do the refrain once again and then back to the bridge. After the bridge, it plays the refrain once with percussion/ bass hits and then the refrain one last time normally. David finishes the song out with his solo as it fades out.
The song is for the most part AAB, but to me it seems more like AABSBS with S being solos and there is a refrain in between each part. The refrain is simple and catchy and it sticks with you. Its very melodic and gives a sense of peace. My friend is telling me he feels like he's in the weather channel, I'm playing this song so much right now. At least jazz is still alive on the weather channel...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TADcnHVyWkk.
Its just a link this time because blogspot would only find the live versions of the song, which were usually less clear than this version.
It starts out with a piano intro with the drums comping. The intro is a foreshadowing of the refrain. The whole band comes in for the last note. Then the bass comes in, thwapping away at the strings. The piano moves into the first portion of his piece. Then they finally get to the refrain which is a longer version of the intro. Next to play is the saxophone. He essentially plays what the piano played during the first portion. Then it plays the refrain again. Next it goes into a section I'm calling the bridge, it has a very different feel to it. You can call this the B section if you wish. After the bridge, there is a lengthy saxophone solo. After the sax solo, they do the refrain once again and then back to the bridge. After the bridge, it plays the refrain once with percussion/ bass hits and then the refrain one last time normally. David finishes the song out with his solo as it fades out.
The song is for the most part AAB, but to me it seems more like AABSBS with S being solos and there is a refrain in between each part. The refrain is simple and catchy and it sticks with you. Its very melodic and gives a sense of peace. My friend is telling me he feels like he's in the weather channel, I'm playing this song so much right now. At least jazz is still alive on the weather channel...
If you can't alter the sound , just make a new sound
Artists are always looking for that next thing, the next sound, the next lick, the next beat. They are trying to stay ahead of the game while subsequently moving the game forward with them. If you are ever looking for a specific sound and you can't replicate it, you may need to seek "alternative means" to find it. So put down the instruments they showed us in 4th grade and take a look at this crazy man and his original sounds.
As he says, that piece of garden hose wrapped around a tube is called Mr Curly. Its not your traditional instrument but it works in a similar way. He blows into the reed at the top, which then vibrates the air inside. The air travels through to the end of the hose, creating the sound. You get different notes just the same as you would a saxophone or clarinet, by covering holes along the length. Covering or uncovering hole changes the frequency of the air vibrating inside, this is what gets you different notes. The unique sound it self comes from the garden hose's intrinsic properties. Many typical instruments are made of brass or a like material because of the rich, clear, bold sound it gives off. When the material is garden hose, though, the air hits the inside of the garden hose, which isn't smooth, but rather a mesh of criss crossed strings. These strings are very taught but move slightly as the vibrating air hits them. This gives the wobbly sound given off by Mr. Curly.
He then plays a feather duster. This is a similar concept to a clarinet, even more so than Mr. Curly. The feather duster is smooth material, so there are no imperfections like strings messing with the air. The bore of the duster is more narrow than a clarinets though, which is why it has a naturally higher pitch. The actual duster would have a slight dampening effect, kinda like a straight mute. That helps make it not so shrill, like a piccolo. There are plenty of neat homemade instruments on the web, why not try to make some of your own. I saw a guy make a flute out of a carrot once....
He then plays a feather duster. This is a similar concept to a clarinet, even more so than Mr. Curly. The feather duster is smooth material, so there are no imperfections like strings messing with the air. The bore of the duster is more narrow than a clarinets though, which is why it has a naturally higher pitch. The actual duster would have a slight dampening effect, kinda like a straight mute. That helps make it not so shrill, like a piccolo. There are plenty of neat homemade instruments on the web, why not try to make some of your own. I saw a guy make a flute out of a carrot once....
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Listening 7- Give it all you got/ Chuck Mangione
As I was growing up, my dad listened to a lot of jazz, mainly smooth jazz, as that was what a local radio station played. He loves Steely Dan, loves Bob James, and he loves Chuck Mangione. Chuck is a fantastic trumpet player who has several albums with many originals. This is one of the shorter ones that I really like. It's 'Give it all you got' by Chuck Mangione.
This song starts out with a slow rise of chords on what is probably a synth. The rest of the band comes in with the chord foundation for the song and then Chuck comes in with the main lick. He is accompanied by a sax. The sax does a solo. The solo is probably scripted cause it has a lot of references to the main lick. Chuck even joins in with him for a couple of notes, proving it was planned. After the sax solo, they go back into the main lick. The whole time the drum and bass guitar are just jamming in the back. Now the sax really opens up with a non-scripted solo, the guitar plays the same comp as it did when it was scripted though. Then it is Chucks turn to come in and wow us with his playing. He can nail some pretty high notes, a feet that busts the chops of many players. Then there is a guitar solo while the bass and drums keep trucking. The sax and trumpet come back in with the scripted solo as the guitar keeps soloing. They go back to the main lick and then they do a repetitive bit. Its like they don't know when to end it so they keep ending it and ending it and ending it. As they keep re-ending it and fade out, the guitar solos some more.
There is some great playing in this piece. I can picture a couple of guys just hanging out and smiling and laughing as they throw the lead between each other and play together. I could be vastly mistaken, but that is what it sounds like. And that is what he wanted to get across. It worked.
There is some great playing in this piece. I can picture a couple of guys just hanging out and smiling and laughing as they throw the lead between each other and play together. I could be vastly mistaken, but that is what it sounds like. And that is what he wanted to get across. It worked.
Cups, cups, everywhere, but not a drop to drink
The cup mute. It is similar to the bucket mute in that it looks like a container attached to the bell that dampens the sound before spitting it back out, and it is. The key difference is that in the bucket mute, it was empty inside the bucket. The cup mute looks more like a straight mute with a lip fringing around the edges.
Here, I have a comparison of two straight mutes and a cup mute on the right. The cup mute looks exactly like the straight mute, but it catches the sound and spits it back and out the side rather than just out the side like for a straight mute. This process severely dampens both high and low harmonic frequencies. This leaves nicer, rounder, more fuzzy tone. The following clip shows the difference between a bucket, cup and straight mute (1:28 , 2:15, and 2:59 respectively).
The cup mute is my personal favorite mute. Compared to the softened straight or the echoy bucket, the cup mute has a very classic jazzy sound to it. I have two and I just love playing with them in the bell.
Listening 6 - Rhythm-A-Ning/ Thelonious Monk
I loaded a bunch of jazz onto my ipod at the beginning of semester. On my bike rides to class, I'd just pop in my headphones and get lost in all the different types of jazz. Then one time, I called back to reality when I heard a lick that I had heard before. I couldn't place it but I knew I had heard it before. The song was Rhythm-A-Ning by Theolonious Monk.
Instantly, you know it is Monk. Some of the very first "chords" played on the piano are Monk's signature dissonance chords. They aren't very pleasing to the ear, but they somehow, Monk Magic I guess, fit into the song so well. This specific recording is almost 10 minutes long, mainly due to solos. I used the song given to us with the book to decipher Monk's code.
It starts out with the piano playing the head alone. Then it is played with accompaniment and a sax 2 more times. The head is 4 4/4 bars and then 5 3/4 bars. Its wonky but it works. And ain't that what jazz is all about? Then it goes into the sax solo with a walking bass line in the back and comps by Monk on the piano. I feel like the sax is alluding to another song at 1:10 in our recording, but I don't know what. Then Monk solos. His right hand is playing a very pretty tune and his left hand keeps hitting what some might call wrong notes, but they aren't wrong at all, that's just Monk. He continues his solo in a similar fashion, then the head is played twice again with the sax. The piano then focuses on the 3/4 bars before one last run through the head and then a fermata on the last note as Monk hits some more wonky chords to end it.
I enjoyed playing Monk songs when I was younger, but we never played them like he did. Our pianist was great, but he didn't have Monk's quirks. As I played and replayed this song, I wondered if that's where i recognized it from, but we never played this song, I would remember the weird title. Then it hits me. A 90's childrens show used the 4/4 bars from the head as it's catch phrase jingle.
Blue's Clues!!!! Blue (the dog) and Steve (owner) both jump into picutres on the wall, but first they sing a little diddy. (check it out at 1:40) This little diddy also happens to be the opening line of Rhythm-A-Ning. Coincidence? Maybe, but its cool that Monk is still permeating through time to my childhood.
Bucket o' Fun
The sound leaves the bell, enters the bucket, swirls around in there and then finds its way out the sides, coming back at the player. The effect of this is the removal of high frequencies, leaving a softer, damper tone. If played correctly, it provides a rich, soulful pitch. Sultry is a good adjective. In your mind, picture the main character of a movie who just lost his job, his family, his home, and is living in the streets of a major city. As he wanders the streets, looking for a place to get out of the rain, even though he has a trench coat on with the collar popped. There are police sirens in the distance as our hero looks in the window of a family happily having dinner, everything he just lost. A trumpet woefully plays a somber tune. That is what a bucket mute does. Lets take it to the clip, and picture what I just described.
Its crazy how putting a bucket in front of the bell can change a shrill trumpet into a smooth cornet.
Listening 5 - Snake Rag/ King Oliver
Now for a old timey, down off the bayou Creole tune. Snake Rag by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. When I listen to it, I can picture a black and white cartoon at a construction site with a lot going on. Lots of bodies bouncing up and down with the beat, all working in time with the music. On the long glissando, when the trombone slides his in and out without tonguing, I can picture some thing (like a characters neck or arm) being stretched and then brought back in. Go ahead and give it a listen.
It is very up beat, vaudeville inspired. The vaudeville is really apparent in the two trumpet descent with the trombone gliss. The band consisted of two trumpets, a trombone, a clarinet, a bass, a piano, a drum set, and a banjo. This is your classic Creole Jazz band. Can't you just see the flappers flapping their little arms and legs right off, the band sitting on the back of a truck as it rolls down the street.
The song is in a 12 bar blues set up with a 2 bar trumpet fall and a 1.5 bar gliss. This gives it a almost stumbling feel when it comes off the gliss, because it isn't an even 16 bars. They play the head twice and then go into a section where it sounds like each instrument is kinda soloing, but with the others. Each instrument has its own idea, and it coincides with all the other instruments. The drums are steady and the piano/bass combo is a constant, but the horns and the clarinet are all over the place, but a methodic all over the place. This takes a lot of focus from the players as well as a great sense of time. They go back to the head and then back into the cluster cuss of organized notes. It ends with each instrument simultaneously ending their phrases and a bass drum hit.
This music makes one want to get up and dance. Or at least that's what I did.
The song is in a 12 bar blues set up with a 2 bar trumpet fall and a 1.5 bar gliss. This gives it a almost stumbling feel when it comes off the gliss, because it isn't an even 16 bars. They play the head twice and then go into a section where it sounds like each instrument is kinda soloing, but with the others. Each instrument has its own idea, and it coincides with all the other instruments. The drums are steady and the piano/bass combo is a constant, but the horns and the clarinet are all over the place, but a methodic all over the place. This takes a lot of focus from the players as well as a great sense of time. They go back to the head and then back into the cluster cuss of organized notes. It ends with each instrument simultaneously ending their phrases and a bass drum hit.
This music makes one want to get up and dance. Or at least that's what I did.
Straight and Narrow
The next sound altering piece we'll look at is the straight mute. The straight mute is probably the first mute used. In concert settings, majority of the group was winds and strings. However, trumpets and trombones could outplay them all fairly easily. Thus the mute was made to do just that, mute the louder instruments. Straight mutes are inserted into the bell. Modern ones have cork on the narrow end to help wedge itself in the bell so the player doesn't have to hold it. This can create some back pressure on the player, but that is a sacrifice that must be made. The mute only allows a small amount of air through, and not in a forward direction, thusly dispersing the sound from the audience.
Why don't those dang trumpets and trombones play softer? Why mute them? To play softer on a brass instrument, one must slow the stream of air moving through the instrument. This slower air can affect the power and presence of the sound, almost sounding weak, which is not desirable. For master musicians, this is not a problem. But for us common folk just trying to make sound, inserting a mute can get you the solid, strong sound without it being too loud that it covers the poor woodwinds. There are straight mutes for trumpets, trombones, baritones, and even tubas.
NOTE: DO NOT CONFUSE STRAIGHT MUTES AND PRACTICE MUTES. They are very similar in shape, but straight mutes still let quite a bit of sound through. Practice mutes essentially muffle everything so no one outside a 5 foot radius could hear it. This is for practicing in places like apartments, not for concerts.
Why don't those dang trumpets and trombones play softer? Why mute them? To play softer on a brass instrument, one must slow the stream of air moving through the instrument. This slower air can affect the power and presence of the sound, almost sounding weak, which is not desirable. For master musicians, this is not a problem. But for us common folk just trying to make sound, inserting a mute can get you the solid, strong sound without it being too loud that it covers the poor woodwinds. There are straight mutes for trumpets, trombones, baritones, and even tubas.
NOTE: DO NOT CONFUSE STRAIGHT MUTES AND PRACTICE MUTES. They are very similar in shape, but straight mutes still let quite a bit of sound through. Practice mutes essentially muffle everything so no one outside a 5 foot radius could hear it. This is for practicing in places like apartments, not for concerts.
Wah-Wah-What was that?/ Listening 4- East St. Louis Toodle Oo
The Wah-Wah. Yet another way guitarists have updated their tech to produce new and edgy sounds. Originally a tube put into your mouth (called a vocorder), the guitarist would actually say wah wah to get the sound he was looking for. That sound, is eerily similar to a plunger muted trumpet. We talked last time about how if played right, a plunger muted instrument can almost sound human. This is what the wah wah does as well. Now a days, wah wahs are usually purely electric, using a foot pedal and the rocking back and forth motion of the guitarist's foot to give it that wah wah sound.
Electrically, the pedals take the sound input from the electric guitar and put it through as filter. The filter, depending on the varied angle of the foot, can either just let it all pass through, or it can convolve the input with a pre-recorded wah, so the output is a wah'ed input. For being as cool as that is ;) most of you will never really see it. People watching guitarists are so focused on their hand placement, they completely forget that they are using their feet to generate the sound.
For the listening portion of this, we will look at Duke Ellington's 'East St Louis Toodle-oo'. For all the visual readers, these pictures do a pretty good job of showing what East St. Louis , the "bad side of town" was feeling. For you audio readers, the music speaks for it self. You audio-visual readers will just love it.
It starts out with a couple saxes, a trombone, a trumpet, a piano, a bass, and even a banjo, along with drums. I don't know the technical term for it, but my drummer friend used to call what the drummer is doing "stirring the soup". He has wire brushes and stirs them on the snare and then flicks it on the beat. All the instruments, save a trumpet, have a simple job. Follow the chord progression. After one run through the chords, the trumpet solo comes in. The trumpet uses a plunger mute to get the growly, rugged sound he is looking for to encapsulate the mood. Its grungy almost. The plunger mute helps the trumpeter sound as if he is a man crying out, spilling his soul. This is in AABA format. It then starts to pick up, the band no longer just plays the chords but actually starts playing their own licks. The trumpets blaring almost as if the city is protesting this guys struggle by showing him how great the city can be. The format is ABAC We then fall back into the growly trumpet for another round of A and then a heartfelt ending tag.
This growly trumpet is a desirable sound, especially if one is trying to convey a human. Guitars can't get plunger mutes so they rely on wah wahs, and that does a fairly good job. Here is Steely Dan's cover of the Dukes song, using a guitar with a wah wah, rather than a muted trumpet.
Its faster than Duke's but still has that human cry from the wah wah that was once reserved for plunger mutes. Many artist, whether or not for guitar, use a wah wah or vocorder to get this effect on other instruments like synthesizers. I don't think it'll ever replace a good, old fashioned growly trumpet, though.
Electrically, the pedals take the sound input from the electric guitar and put it through as filter. The filter, depending on the varied angle of the foot, can either just let it all pass through, or it can convolve the input with a pre-recorded wah, so the output is a wah'ed input. For being as cool as that is ;) most of you will never really see it. People watching guitarists are so focused on their hand placement, they completely forget that they are using their feet to generate the sound.
For the listening portion of this, we will look at Duke Ellington's 'East St Louis Toodle-oo'. For all the visual readers, these pictures do a pretty good job of showing what East St. Louis , the "bad side of town" was feeling. For you audio readers, the music speaks for it self. You audio-visual readers will just love it.
This piece is very slow, almost somber, like a funeral march. Calling back to New Orleans funeral marches. The people of ESL were in a rough patch, but it was still the city, which is always moving, which means there were always clubs playing music. This, unlike my last listening, is slower and better for couple dancing with a lot of emotion. Duke does a great job of capturing the vibe of the city and her people in this piece.
This growly trumpet is a desirable sound, especially if one is trying to convey a human. Guitars can't get plunger mutes so they rely on wah wahs, and that does a fairly good job. Here is Steely Dan's cover of the Dukes song, using a guitar with a wah wah, rather than a muted trumpet.
Listening 3 - John Coltrane's Giant Steps
John Coltrane...the man, the myth, the legend. A church in California actually considered him God. This well known saxophonist and composer has made another jazz classic with this piece, Giant Steps.
It starts out fairly fast paced, playing the head twice. Fairly basic. Then his solo comes in. This is where things go a little crazy. John Coltrane is known for doing non-standard chord changes in his solos and Giant Steps is no exception to this idea. He is really on his own plane, his notes going with the piano and bass yet still being on a different chord progression. These different chord changes are known as Coltrane changes. The piano tries to follow suit with the saxophones' mad solos, that were so full of scalar runs and jumps. The piano dies down to more comfortable, regular chords and a more simple solo. The sax comes back in to finish with a minor solo. He follows that with another two rounds of the head, with a fermata on the last note and a fun little tag that calls back to his solos.
The instruments featured are what sounds to be either two tenors or a tenor sax and an alto (I've never had an ear for woodwinds), a piano, and a bass, not a bass guitar but a real bass, and a drum set that is constantly riding the high hat and gives a real straight forward beat. The beat is fast, one has to work to snap on every other beat like any good beatnik can, but it is still in 4/4 time. The head is in 12 bar blues, going AAB.
As a piece, it is fun to listen to, but not really something you could dance to, unless your dance style was as all over the place as the solo. Coltrane uses hard accents on the head, so each note has a very strong impact. Visually, it would look like someone dancing in a strobe light, every time it is a whole new note, new pose, but it still seems to flow together.
Coltrane went on to help start free jazz, which i do not prefer, but he will always live in my heart with his Bebop and hard Bop
It starts out fairly fast paced, playing the head twice. Fairly basic. Then his solo comes in. This is where things go a little crazy. John Coltrane is known for doing non-standard chord changes in his solos and Giant Steps is no exception to this idea. He is really on his own plane, his notes going with the piano and bass yet still being on a different chord progression. These different chord changes are known as Coltrane changes. The piano tries to follow suit with the saxophones' mad solos, that were so full of scalar runs and jumps. The piano dies down to more comfortable, regular chords and a more simple solo. The sax comes back in to finish with a minor solo. He follows that with another two rounds of the head, with a fermata on the last note and a fun little tag that calls back to his solos.
The instruments featured are what sounds to be either two tenors or a tenor sax and an alto (I've never had an ear for woodwinds), a piano, and a bass, not a bass guitar but a real bass, and a drum set that is constantly riding the high hat and gives a real straight forward beat. The beat is fast, one has to work to snap on every other beat like any good beatnik can, but it is still in 4/4 time. The head is in 12 bar blues, going AAB.
As a piece, it is fun to listen to, but not really something you could dance to, unless your dance style was as all over the place as the solo. Coltrane uses hard accents on the head, so each note has a very strong impact. Visually, it would look like someone dancing in a strobe light, every time it is a whole new note, new pose, but it still seems to flow together.
Coltrane went on to help start free jazz, which i do not prefer, but he will always live in my heart with his Bebop and hard Bop
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Plungers- Not Just for Toilets
This is my third installment on sound altering items used to morph the sound of instruments into something unique. This week, we will discuss the plunger mute. Yes, you read that right, and no, it isn't a metaphor. It is literally the head of a plunger, ideally unused. They are mainly used by trumpets and trombones. Trumpets should get a smaller sink plunger that fits their smaller bell where as trombones need a full sized toilet plunger.
The plunger itself doesn't have an inventor, but it started popping up between 1850 and 1900, when rubber became more common place in the home. Trumpets and trombones have been using mutes since the 1600s. During the Jazzy era in the 1920s, musicians were constantly looking for that new sound that would get them the edge needed to be the next big thing. The hat mute, essentially just a bowler hat held in front of the bell, was made popular by King Oliver in the early 1920s. This was the predecessor to the plunger mute. All the factors were in place, it just needed a brave soul to used the rubber suction cup meant for the toilet and put it on the end of their bell.
There may have been brave souls before trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton, but he's definitely the one who hit it big. Being part of Duke Ellington's Orchestra helped as well. He joined the group in 1926 and along with trumpet Bubber Miley, revolutionized swing music. When Miley left in 1929, Tricky Sam trained his successor, Cootie Williams, the growl and plunger techniques he and Miley had used, and Cootie became a plunger master himself. Together, they took the plunger to a whole new level.
The timbre created by the plunger mute is described as buzzy when closed against the bell, and if opened while playing, gives a distinctive "wah" sound that Nanton was so good at. Some musicians poke holes in their plungers to give it a slightly different timbre. If played by a skilled player it could even sound almost human-like.
As heard in the video on the left, that wah wah sound is remenisent of a human saying wah. And the growl that he does is done with just rolling the tongue like for Spanish r's but into a plunger, and it makes a real jungly sound. This sound and style was big in swing music.
Plungers have definitely made their way into Jazz and into Jazz Musicians hearts. It is a style and feel unlike most other mutes. Its got a heart of its own. And if push came to shove, its handy around a clogged toilet...
The plunger itself doesn't have an inventor, but it started popping up between 1850 and 1900, when rubber became more common place in the home. Trumpets and trombones have been using mutes since the 1600s. During the Jazzy era in the 1920s, musicians were constantly looking for that new sound that would get them the edge needed to be the next big thing. The hat mute, essentially just a bowler hat held in front of the bell, was made popular by King Oliver in the early 1920s. This was the predecessor to the plunger mute. All the factors were in place, it just needed a brave soul to used the rubber suction cup meant for the toilet and put it on the end of their bell.
There may have been brave souls before trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton, but he's definitely the one who hit it big. Being part of Duke Ellington's Orchestra helped as well. He joined the group in 1926 and along with trumpet Bubber Miley, revolutionized swing music. When Miley left in 1929, Tricky Sam trained his successor, Cootie Williams, the growl and plunger techniques he and Miley had used, and Cootie became a plunger master himself. Together, they took the plunger to a whole new level.
The timbre created by the plunger mute is described as buzzy when closed against the bell, and if opened while playing, gives a distinctive "wah" sound that Nanton was so good at. Some musicians poke holes in their plungers to give it a slightly different timbre. If played by a skilled player it could even sound almost human-like.
As heard in the video on the left, that wah wah sound is remenisent of a human saying wah. And the growl that he does is done with just rolling the tongue like for Spanish r's but into a plunger, and it makes a real jungly sound. This sound and style was big in swing music.
Plungers have definitely made their way into Jazz and into Jazz Musicians hearts. It is a style and feel unlike most other mutes. Its got a heart of its own. And if push came to shove, its handy around a clogged toilet...
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Listening 2-Zoot Suit Riot
One of the most iconic and most well known swing songs in existence, Zoot Suit Riot by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies (CPD) took America by storm during the swing revival in the 1997. Even though it was written in the late 90s, the style is of 1940's jump swing, the type of song that almost compels one to get up and dance. CPD was a ska-band, so a regular jazz group with lots of walking brass. This is a fast paced song so a lot more could be fit into a small amount of time. The form is as follows:
8bar Drum Intro
8bar instrumental I'll refer to as the theme (T)
8bar T again
8bar A (vocals start)
8bar B
8bar C (Refrain)
8bar C
8bar T
8bar A
8bar B
8bar C
16bar Bridge (a lot of falls from instruments and then a build as the vocals say the title)
4bar shout-out to Drum Intro
16bar scat (drum intro in background while instruments echo the vocal's calls)
8bar B (skips A)
8bar C
8bar C
16bar Bridge again (great part to let loose the dance moves)
6bar recall of the drum intro
Tag to finish it out
The instruments used were a drum set, bass (most likely string-), trumpet, saxes, piano, and the music video on the left shows a guitar. The beat is uptempo and bright (around 190 bpm) and is ideal for swing dancing. Being a ska band, the brass instruments are mainly for background hits and for echoes to the vocal calls. The scat section is a style of music in and of itself. Scat is essentially soloing with ones voice, using nonsense syllables. It accents the time period this song is shooting for fairly well.
The lyrics and music style weave a tale of the mid 40s, during WWII. The government was asking people to conserve the uses of basic materials that could be used for the war effort. Zoot suits were made with very baggy sleeves and legs using a lot of unnecessary cloth, and happened to be popular among the Mexican-American community. American military/navy men saw this as unpatriotic during war times, and well, conflict ensued. The lyrics don't really root for either side, but just talk about happenings in the mid 1940s.
This is one of my favorite songs, probably because I love swing jazz and probably because I love to swing dance. If you've never heard it, I recommend it. If you have heard it, try dancing to it. If you are looking for a funny parody, check out "Grapefruit Diet" by Weird Al Yankovich.
8bar Drum Intro
8bar instrumental I'll refer to as the theme (T)
8bar T again
8bar A (vocals start)
8bar B
8bar C (Refrain)
8bar C
8bar T
8bar A
8bar B
8bar C
16bar Bridge (a lot of falls from instruments and then a build as the vocals say the title)
4bar shout-out to Drum Intro
16bar scat (drum intro in background while instruments echo the vocal's calls)
8bar B (skips A)
8bar C
8bar C
16bar Bridge again (great part to let loose the dance moves)
6bar recall of the drum intro
Tag to finish it out
The instruments used were a drum set, bass (most likely string-), trumpet, saxes, piano, and the music video on the left shows a guitar. The beat is uptempo and bright (around 190 bpm) and is ideal for swing dancing. Being a ska band, the brass instruments are mainly for background hits and for echoes to the vocal calls. The scat section is a style of music in and of itself. Scat is essentially soloing with ones voice, using nonsense syllables. It accents the time period this song is shooting for fairly well.
The lyrics and music style weave a tale of the mid 40s, during WWII. The government was asking people to conserve the uses of basic materials that could be used for the war effort. Zoot suits were made with very baggy sleeves and legs using a lot of unnecessary cloth, and happened to be popular among the Mexican-American community. American military/navy men saw this as unpatriotic during war times, and well, conflict ensued. The lyrics don't really root for either side, but just talk about happenings in the mid 1940s.
This is one of my favorite songs, probably because I love swing jazz and probably because I love to swing dance. If you've never heard it, I recommend it. If you have heard it, try dancing to it. If you are looking for a funny parody, check out "Grapefruit Diet" by Weird Al Yankovich.
Capo(tasto)
Now for another segment of sound altering items. This week we are looking at probably the most widely used and most well known for guitar players, the capo. Capo is short for capotasto, which is Italian for "head of fretboard." According to the Oxford Music Encyclopedia, the first recorded use of the capo was in 1640 by G.B. Doni in his piece, Annotazioni, but it was probably used before that. The point of a capo is to effectively shorten the length of the strings on a guitar, banjo, or mandolin so the pitch is raised, allowing the musician to play in a higher key with different fingerings. It is placed on the neck and using some form of a clamp, presses all the strings down, shortening the neck.
Capos come in many shapes and sizes. It comprises of two major component, the part that applies pressure to the fret and the mechanism that mounts it on to the neck. The capo on the right, for example, utilizes rubber to evenly distribute pressure across the whole neck while a spring pushes a curve arm against the bottom of the neck, creating a vice so it stays put. This is very common and mostly used for quick changes from key to key between songs. Other mounting-mechanisms include lock with key for long lasting grip and rope ties for secure grips. The fret pressure can be provided by rubber like the one on the right or by metal, depending on what sound you are looking for. Rubber capos are most common since they seem to last longer than metal or plastic ones, and they have a smaller chance of breaking the strings. Either way, it has to be rectangular so it presses equally over all the frets. (ehow.com)
The capo has a very special relationship with stringed instruments like the guitar. Whatever genre the guitar goes, the capo follows. When the guitar entered the jazz scene, the capo was close behind. Now as Jazz became more defined as a genre, the capo tended to fade into the background and stick around mainly in blues and folk. In blues, the music usually incorporates many flatted notes, to give a sad feeling. The capo saved guitarist from some awkward hand cramping fingerings.
The capo isn't only used to take up the key signature. It also can procure some interesting chords using a partial capo, a capo that only applies pressure to a couple strings, giving the guitar a new, unique sound.
Capos come in many shapes and sizes. It comprises of two major component, the part that applies pressure to the fret and the mechanism that mounts it on to the neck. The capo on the right, for example, utilizes rubber to evenly distribute pressure across the whole neck while a spring pushes a curve arm against the bottom of the neck, creating a vice so it stays put. This is very common and mostly used for quick changes from key to key between songs. Other mounting-mechanisms include lock with key for long lasting grip and rope ties for secure grips. The fret pressure can be provided by rubber like the one on the right or by metal, depending on what sound you are looking for. Rubber capos are most common since they seem to last longer than metal or plastic ones, and they have a smaller chance of breaking the strings. Either way, it has to be rectangular so it presses equally over all the frets. (ehow.com)
The capo isn't only used to take up the key signature. It also can procure some interesting chords using a partial capo, a capo that only applies pressure to a couple strings, giving the guitar a new, unique sound.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Listening 1 - Watermelon Man
For my first intense listening of Jazz, I listened to one of my favorites to play in middle school, Watermelon Man. The version I listened to was by Mongo Santamaria, but it was originally written by the great Herbie Hancock, the composer of other great songs like Cantaloupe Island and Chameleon. I chose this one because it was familiar, an easy way to get my foot in the door.
The instruments heard in Watermelon Man by Mongo were trumpet and sax leads, and a rhythm section in the background (including what sounded like congas and a guiro), and a piano. Upon some research, the piano was actually played by Herbie, who was filling in with the band. There is a little bit of vocals, but mainly just shouts during quieter parts of the peace, and the phrase "watermelon man" is introduced during the lulls in part A of the main lick after the solo. This is made for a jazz combo setting with solos in-between the main sections
The format of the song, made only to be under 3 min for radio, is as follows:
Intro for 4 bars
A for 8 bars
B for 8 bars
2 bars of vamp before solo
trumpet solo
2 bars of vamp with slight percussion lead in to...
A for 8 bars
B for 8 bars
My version then fades into nothingness, but that is surely an after production affect
The main lick is AB, which last 16bars, making it 16 bar blues
The feel of the rhythm section is "cha-cha"-esque with a with a jazzy, soul feeling. If I'm not mistaken, I believe this song is on an F blues scale, which really gives into that feel.
The instruments heard in Watermelon Man by Mongo were trumpet and sax leads, and a rhythm section in the background (including what sounded like congas and a guiro), and a piano. Upon some research, the piano was actually played by Herbie, who was filling in with the band. There is a little bit of vocals, but mainly just shouts during quieter parts of the peace, and the phrase "watermelon man" is introduced during the lulls in part A of the main lick after the solo. This is made for a jazz combo setting with solos in-between the main sections
The format of the song, made only to be under 3 min for radio, is as follows:
Intro for 4 bars
A for 8 bars
B for 8 bars
2 bars of vamp before solo
trumpet solo
2 bars of vamp with slight percussion lead in to...
A for 8 bars
B for 8 bars
My version then fades into nothingness, but that is surely an after production affect
The main lick is AB, which last 16bars, making it 16 bar blues
The feel of the rhythm section is "cha-cha"-esque with a with a jazzy, soul feeling. If I'm not mistaken, I believe this song is on an F blues scale, which really gives into that feel.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Bottleneck Slides
Welcome to my blog! This blog will be dedicated to looking deeper into different items or add-ons for instruments that alter the sound that usually comes out of that instrument, hence the title of this blog.
To start us off, I'll discuss bottle neck slides. Their history, their production, how it works and famous people who used it are all topics that will be addressed, in that order. So what is a bottle neck slide? A bottle neck slide is literally what it sounds like, the neck of a glass bottle (originally a wine bottle ) that would be slipped on either the pinky, ring, or middle finger of the hand that held the neck of the guitar. They were first used around the 1920s for Ragtime music. Sylvester Weaver, an African American blues musician, was the first recorded artist to use the bottle neck slide in 1923. He used it for the wavering sound that can be applied to an already stuck chord that gives sort of a wailing feel, corresponding rather well with blues. It made its way into country music and Hawaiian music, as well as Rock music in the 60s. Even in these vastly different forms of music, however, they were all calling back to the heart-string-tugging blues origins of the slide. To play with a bottle neck slide became known as playing slide guitar or playing a bottle neck guitar.
As stated above, they started out as the necks of wine bottles. It wasn't limited to this for people have different size fingers or perhaps wine bottles weren't readily on hand. Other glass bottles were also used in the 20's. These were used until approx. 1975 when manufactured glass slides were popping up in music stores around the nation. They were no longer bottle necks, so the term slide guitar became more popular. The slides also started coming in different materials that just glass. Some were steel, brass, or plastic. Some musicians used knives, pipes, or other objects that gave the unique resonance that the artist was looking for.
Bottle neck slides were created for a distinct purpose, to make the transition from one chord to another smooth and seamless without making that unique sound the human finger makes when it slides up or down the neck. The bottle neck, made of glass or a like material, is many times smoother than the human finger, so the action of sliding it down a taught metal string makes more of a glissando slide rather than an abrupt slur. Also the material itself will resonate with a different timbre than normal fingerings. The finger with the bottle neck isn't useless when it comes to fretting (the act of shortening the guitar strings with your fingers to increase the pitch) however, for with enough pressure the musician can still play chords, though they will sound different with the slide's unique resonance.
Some clouted people who used bottle neck slides are Blind Willie Johnson, Fred McDowell, and the Memphis Jug Band. George Harrison of the Beatles experimented with the slide during "Strawberry Fields Forever" in the mid-60s, and later used the slide in many other songs during his solos. Many famous rockers have also dabbled with the slide, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, and ZZ Top. Duane Allman, from the Allman Brothers Band, used a glass medicine bottle for his slide. Not exactly a bottle neck, but it produced a similar, yet still unique sound. Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Roy Rogers are all influential slide users in classic electric blues. This is a clip of Roy Rogers playing his slide guitar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW08Rc802MQ
That, in a nutshell, is the bottle neck slide, aka bottleneck guitar, aka slide guitar. Hope this was educational and I'll be bringing you more next week.
To start us off, I'll discuss bottle neck slides. Their history, their production, how it works and famous people who used it are all topics that will be addressed, in that order. So what is a bottle neck slide? A bottle neck slide is literally what it sounds like, the neck of a glass bottle (originally a wine bottle ) that would be slipped on either the pinky, ring, or middle finger of the hand that held the neck of the guitar. They were first used around the 1920s for Ragtime music. Sylvester Weaver, an African American blues musician, was the first recorded artist to use the bottle neck slide in 1923. He used it for the wavering sound that can be applied to an already stuck chord that gives sort of a wailing feel, corresponding rather well with blues. It made its way into country music and Hawaiian music, as well as Rock music in the 60s. Even in these vastly different forms of music, however, they were all calling back to the heart-string-tugging blues origins of the slide. To play with a bottle neck slide became known as playing slide guitar or playing a bottle neck guitar.
As stated above, they started out as the necks of wine bottles. It wasn't limited to this for people have different size fingers or perhaps wine bottles weren't readily on hand. Other glass bottles were also used in the 20's. These were used until approx. 1975 when manufactured glass slides were popping up in music stores around the nation. They were no longer bottle necks, so the term slide guitar became more popular. The slides also started coming in different materials that just glass. Some were steel, brass, or plastic. Some musicians used knives, pipes, or other objects that gave the unique resonance that the artist was looking for.
Bottle neck slides were created for a distinct purpose, to make the transition from one chord to another smooth and seamless without making that unique sound the human finger makes when it slides up or down the neck. The bottle neck, made of glass or a like material, is many times smoother than the human finger, so the action of sliding it down a taught metal string makes more of a glissando slide rather than an abrupt slur. Also the material itself will resonate with a different timbre than normal fingerings. The finger with the bottle neck isn't useless when it comes to fretting (the act of shortening the guitar strings with your fingers to increase the pitch) however, for with enough pressure the musician can still play chords, though they will sound different with the slide's unique resonance.
Some clouted people who used bottle neck slides are Blind Willie Johnson, Fred McDowell, and the Memphis Jug Band. George Harrison of the Beatles experimented with the slide during "Strawberry Fields Forever" in the mid-60s, and later used the slide in many other songs during his solos. Many famous rockers have also dabbled with the slide, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, and ZZ Top. Duane Allman, from the Allman Brothers Band, used a glass medicine bottle for his slide. Not exactly a bottle neck, but it produced a similar, yet still unique sound. Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Roy Rogers are all influential slide users in classic electric blues. This is a clip of Roy Rogers playing his slide guitar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW08Rc802MQ
That, in a nutshell, is the bottle neck slide, aka bottleneck guitar, aka slide guitar. Hope this was educational and I'll be bringing you more next week.
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